Shot making in practice vs. Shot making in a match

[lesedwards]

I am sure there are other people with this same problem so maybe we can all get some help.
I have been really working hard on my game and one thing I have noticed when I practice the cue hitting the cue ball makes a very different sound then when I am in a game. I get this nice solid contact and when in a game I get this little weak sound. Yesterday I was practicing reds behind the black and out for a black and I ran 56 then today I play a best of three match and my high break was 7 for 2 games which I lost both. All shots where off line and weak with no shape even if I had of made the red. The first game I made 8 reds and one brown. The second game I made 7 reds and one pink. Terry Davidson has been coaching me and I thought I was on the right track with the way I have been playing in practice but my game looks like I have never played before, in fact we had company over on the weekend and I lost twice to guys that only play once a month when they play at my house. HELP

[itsnoteasy]

There is a thread Les, is the line up a waste of time, and this situation is what they ment I think, you very rarely get line up shots in a game , to get started it's normally an awkward red with some times difficult position, So practice these potting angles,shot routine is a big help, your mind must be clear what you are doing before you think about dropping down, this leaves you fully focused on the potting point of the ob, and play one ball at a time.
Try and play the easiest shot for position e.g. Better to go red yellow red, than red massive screw for blue and miss the red. Something that changed my game quite a bit, is try and leave the right angle on the next shot for the next shot, if you know what I mean, potting the red but leaving a dead straight black makes the game so much harder, lastly stay online,stay still, stay down,stay smooth and stay long, all of which will help to minimise movement. Hope any of this helps Les, it's a frustrating game that's for sure
Oh and definitely ,definitely do what VMax says below.

[vmax4steve]

The thing that goes first due to anxiety of the match situation is taking your eye off the contact point on the object ball, and once that happens then no matter if you are doing everything else right you will play badly.
Get this right first and foremost.
Find it when standing behind the shot, find it again when in your stance at the address position front pause, and keep your eyes on it when striking the cue ball.

[rovnos]

Stay long ?....do you mean a long follow through ?

[DeanH]

Stay long ?....do you mean a long follow through ?

I read that as "stay down on the shot until the object ball pots"

[itsnoteasy]

Just don't go jabby, it means smooth, relaxed and good follow through on power shots, get through the shot don't hit at it, ok I admit it I made it up lol.

[lesedwards]

I think my biggest problem, anxiety, get way a head of myself and everything becomes mumbled mess in my pre shot routine and then you miss an easy pot and it just goes down hill from there. Your thought process is gone.

[Neil Taperell]

Exactly that Les.....same as me .

I seem to get tunnel vision and don't see the bigger picture . Think i try too hard . Don't relax enough .

I am going to try to stand back a bit tomorrow and not get too intense , see if that helps me in the League match .

[lesedwards]

Good Luck, we have a qualifier coming up this weekend and there are a lot of great players and me with my high break of 7 today....LOL maybe I am way over my head or maybe I expect more of myself. You stand back and look at the game and it does not seem that tough but has to be the most frustrating and addicting game I have ever come across. Maybe my other theory will work. Only pot dead in reds and then play any colour for safety back to baulk. Just play safe all the time and leave my opponent back behind the baulk line. Just clear off red balls one by one. The colours are not a problem which is funny. I can make them and play shape because I know my task at hand. There are no alternative shots to play, just play them in order. If someone told me I could shoot the colours in any order I I would probably make the wrong choices once again. My coach says my shot selection is terrible...... When we play he will tell me which one to play and I will think to myself I would have never seen that shot. I guess you could say I have poor management of my game.

[itsnoteasy]

To stop the fuzzy head feeling, try and have a solid shot routine, it's very very important, you can't know what you did wrong if you don't know what you did.

[arbitrage]

The thing that goes first due to anxiety of the match situation is taking your eye off the contact point on the object ball, and once that happens then no matter if you are doing everything else right you will play badly.
Get this right first and foremost.
Find it when standing behind the shot, find it again when in your stance at the address position front pause, and keep your eyes on it when striking the cue ball.

spot on.

although the way he describes his situation, it also appears that he is tensing up during the shot which makes it difficult for him to cue through smoothly. this usually results in a jerky motion with a partial follow through - which would explain why your shot during matches sounds weak and not solid. because you are not following through fully, this might also result in pushing the cue off line which would then obviously affect the pot. also, if you are tense - it makes it more difficult for you to put your body into the right address position for the shot. usually a lot of people try and tinker with their address position after they get down on the shot - especially after they miss a few shots and negative thoughts start emerging - as per vmax's advice, get up, find the contact point on the object ball, line up and put yourself in the correct address position

[lesedwards]

Well I would say you guys have hit the nail on the head in every aspect. I did notice tonight that everything is going left as the cue ball strikes the object ball. Thats why I am having so much trouble potting anything of any distance. So tonight I setup my video camera and took some video of me running long blues and you will notice where the cue ball finishes on just about every shot just right of blue spot. You will see my cue is lined up right of target and I cue straight through on that line forcing the cue ball right of target and the object ball to the left of target. Any help would be great. I have an important qualifying this weekend. No wonder I hate dead straight shots because I cannot cue straight and I am sure that causes the tense up in matches and the tentative shot making Check out the video.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4w_hPH6...ture=c4-feed-u
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-eNZr4Fow1g

[vmax4steve]

I think you are not putting your cue on the line of aim due to the fact that you can't straighten your arm enough to get your bridge hand in the correct place.
I can see that you are left handed and left eye dominant which normally requires a square stance, but seeing as that bridge hand cannot get on the line of aim with that stance try putting you right foot further forward, thus turning your body to the left a bit more which should get your bridge hand and cue onto the line of aim.

[lesedwards]

Thanks for the suggestion. I am actually right handed and right eye dominant but do to limited movement in my right arm I am foced to play left handed. Not an easy task along with using the rest a lot because I cannot reach very far but I am determined to be a good player. I was told at a very young age that because of my arm I would never be much of a golfer but by the time I was 16 I was shooting par or better and by the time I was 20 I was playing on the Canadian Tour so I will master this game one way or another.

[ace man]

My coach says my shot selection is terrible...... When we play he will tell me which one to play and I will think to myself I would have never seen that shot. I guess you could say I have poor management of my game.

Do you watch professional matches regularly? If you do, watch them for as many hours as you can. Put yourself in their position when they're break building, playing safe's...etc. What would you do? Try to guess their next shot. If you do not guess right almost every time, watch some more. Listen carefully to commentators, many of them are former players and/or champions, so they know a thing or two.
I know quite a few guys who watch pro snooker obsessively, but when it comes to shot selection in an actual game, they are hopeless. Don't watch snooker as if you're watching a movie if you want to get better.